


Aftermath

by DoomedKelpie



Series: Trick or Treat (And What Follows) [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Conversations, Crying, Deceit is accepted, Deceit | Janus Sanders Angst, Internal Monologue, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27408418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomedKelpie/pseuds/DoomedKelpie
Summary: After his arguments with the other sides, Janus returns to his room to think.The others have a discussion of their own.
Series: Trick or Treat (And What Follows) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2002450
Comments: 19
Kudos: 133





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, I was just gonna leave this as a one-shot, but apparently I have more ideas, so here we go again?

Janus appeared in his room and immediately flopped onto his bed with a deep, frustrated sigh. He had spoken _far_ too many truths in the past few minutes, and most of the lies he did tell were more sarcasm than actual lies. He’d gone out on a limb and given the truth a shot, despite how difficult it was, but it hadn’t really seemed to help. The other sides just wouldn’t _listen_ to him. Which, yes, he expected that from the Light Sides because they never wanted to listen to anyone but _themselves_ , but he really had thought that Virgil would understand why he was so frustrated. Until recently, no one had ever listened to Virgil, either. How many times had Janus listened to the other side rant about exactly that, only for Virgil to conveniently forget what it was like as soon as he didn’t have to experience it anymore? Janus really _was_ just trying to do what was best for Thomas- they all were- and he hated that his input was almost never considered. Hell, Thomas didn’t even want to know he _existed_ until recently.

Ugh, he _loathed_ the truth.

“The sky is green. I have blue eyes. Cats are fish. Pollution is good for the Earth. I love the cold,” Janus lied to the room.

Along with the blatant lies came relief. Sure, they weren’t serious lies, and just about anyone listening, if there _was_ anyone to listen, would have known they weren’t true, but something about how blatantly false they were felt good. Sure, half-truths were fun because people had a hard time disentangling true from false, but they didn’t scratch the itch in the back of his head like true lies did. 

Did the others even realize how much he had been speaking the truth in that conversation? Or did they just assume he was still lying? Is that why they weren’t listening to him? 

Wasn’t it obvious when he was telling the truth? Surely, they couldn’t think that he’d been lying when he said he was trying to help Thomas get what he wants, could they? They knew he didn’t _have_ to lie all the time, that he could tell the truth with some effort. Was his effort really not noticeable? To him, every truthful sentence had felt like he was speaking around a mouth full of marshmallows. How could they _not_ see how hard saying all that was for him? 

Well, the others were dense, but Virgil should know better. Virgil _knew_ him, knew how to tell when he was lying and when he wasn’t, and he must have known that he was mostly telling the truth back there. 

_Had_ Virgil known and still not cared?

Janus froze at that thought. _Did_ Virgil really not care? 

Of course, he knew that they had that falling out a while ago, but he had thought (hoped) that they would get past that eventually. But maybe Virgil wasn’t just mad.

Maybe Virgil hated him now. 

Maybe, now that Virgil was with the ‘good guys’, he didn’t want Janus anymore- didn’t _need_ him anymore, and he would never need him again. Maybe he was fine with his new friends, and there was no point in making up with a ‘lying snake’ like him.

But where did that leave _him_?

It was all well and good for Virgil to run off and make new friends, but what was _he_ supposed to do? There was only so much of Remus he could handle, and even when they spent time together, the other side had almost no interest in having any real kind of conversation. He would just spout off whatever inappropriate nonsense popped into his head, and the few times Janus had tried to have a serious discussion with him, he’d just turned it into a huge joke. And maybe Janus was lying to himself when he said that didn’t sting a bit. 

Well, it wasn’t entirely Remus’s fault. He was Dark Creativity, Intrusive Thoughts, after all, just as Janus was Deceit. He couldn’t help being random and disturbing any more than Janus could help lying. Which meant that, while not impossible, it was tiring to do, and Remus had little motivation to rein himself in. 

Really, what was he supposed to do now? Part of him had always assumed that Virgil would come back to this part of the house eventually, come back to _him_ eventually. Now, he wasn’t so sure. But Janus had been holding onto that idea ever since Virgil left. The loneliness was bearable because he thought there was an end in sight, an ending to feeling like this, to being alone. Surely, he’d thought, that Virgil would come back any day now. He would be back, and everything could go back to the way it used to be. 

Funny how Janus really had been lying to himself and he hadn’t even noticed.

“Thomas was wearing a red shirt today. Roman hates theatre. Logan hates reading,” Janus continued lying. “Patton hates hugs. Virgil… Virgil hates... music…”

As Janus stared up at the ceiling reciting his lies, his pet snake slithered beside him, appearing from who knows where. Its smooth, scaly skin brushed against his face as it slithered on top of him, eventually curling up on his chest. He brushed a gloved hand down its long back and finally looked away from the ceiling to refocus his gaze on his pet. 

“Well, at least I _never_ have you,” Janus told the reptile. 

The snake turned its head to look back at him, flickering its tongue out with a blank expression. 

Things had been easier when Thomas and the sides were all young children. The other sides hadn’t minded his dishonesty much back then, especially before Patton really started getting an idea of social norms. Back then, the others were happy, even, when one of his lies would earn Thomas an extra cookie or something (really, what was the _big deal_ if he already had one? It was only one more). But it hadn’t taken long for Patton, and therefore Thomas, to learn that ‘lying is wrong’, and from there, Roman had declared him to be a villain and the others followed suit. It had taken a bit longer for Virgil to be rejected- after all, before Thomas really knew of the world’s dangers, Virgil had little to fear or protect him from- but he was eventually excluded as well. Then it was just the two of them, and eventually Remus once he and Roman split apart. And that was just how it was, how it was _supposed_ to be. 

He’d once thought that the Light Sides were just unforgiving, inflexible jerks, but they accepted Virgil back after all this time. What was so wrong with _him_ that they wouldn’t even let him join in their discussions without throwing a fit?

The corners of his eyes began to feel wet, but he wouldn’t let himself cry. He wasn’t going to cry over this, over _them_. What good would his tears do other than make his face all red and puffy? It’s not like it would change anything. 

His snake moved its head forward, lightly hitting his cheek with its nose. He sighed, giving the animal a weak smile.

“I hate you so _much_ , my serpentine enemy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And even though I had intended for this to be a one-shot, I’m apparently going to write another chapter after this one too. Maybe a few more chapters.   
> I cannot help it; I just really like this slimy boi. 
> 
> And btw, I’m not gonna include any ‘Orange Side’ OC or Remy in this or anything. I just don’t really want to. So, yeah, the gang’s all here. I’m also not sure how much Remus is going to be in this ‘Cuz he’s pretty new, so…
> 
> (DECEMBER 17th EDIT: I slightly edited this chapter to match up with a later part of this series)


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here I am, back with another chapter.
> 
> I just really like Janus, even though I’m actually absolutely awful at lying and kinda hate doing it, lol… Sorry snek boi…

It was Patton who called a meeting in the commons living room, and of course, he wanted to discuss what had just happened with Janus. Currently, the discussion was split between Patton, and surprisingly, Logan, who thought that they should maybe try to include Janus more, and Roman and Virgil, the latter of which wasn’t actually very sure about what to do and mostly just wanted to avoid conflict with the snake (and his own guilt and bitterness), and the former of which wasn’t on board. 

“I do believe that it makes sense to include him,” Logan added to the conversation. “He was right about Thomas needing to be selfish sometimes, and he is open to the idea of moderation. It might help offset Patton’s tendency to want Thomas to always act selflessly, which just ends up making Thomas feel bad when he cannot live up to those expectations. It might help even to just have a more opposing viewpoint now that Virgil has settled down a bit.”

Virgil gave Logan a glare for that last comment, but he was prevented from responding by Roman arguing loudly.

“But then Thomas will become a liar!” Roman protested. “How can that be good for Thomas? Isn’t being a liar bad, Patton?”

Patton tried to give the boisterous angry side a calming smile.

“I  _ do _ think lying is wrong…,” Patton acquiesced. “But I also think it’s wrong to exclude people, and I think he  _ is _ trying to help Thomas, even if he is a little… misguided…”

“I think he’s a bit more than  _ misguided _ , Patton-”

“And besides,” Patton continued. “Including him  _ won’t _ turn Thomas into a liar, I don’t think… When we started including Virgil, Thomas didn’t suddenly become an anxious mess…”

Virgil gave Patton a deadpan stare, not quite glaring but clearly not happy about what Patton just said either.

“Oh, sorry Virgil!” he apologized quickly. “I just mean that, if anything, listening to Virgil and his input actually made Thomas  _ less _ anxious. Maybe that will happen with Janus, too?”

“Indeed. It’s quite likely that Janus is so antagonistic in the first place because he wants attention, and giving him that attention may very well decrease the antagonism,” Logan agreed. “And he does represent more than just lying, so his input will likely be beneficial so long as he doesn’t overdo it with the falsehoods.” 

Roman crossed his arms and huffed, annoyed, as he flopped onto the couch. Logan sighed, letting just a slight bit of his own frustration with the conversation show.

“And what about you, Virgil? You have been rather quiet this whole time, yet you seem to be against including Deceit in our discussions,” Logan directed toward the other side as he shifted his glasses.

Virgil mentally cursed that the focus had shifted to him now. He hated all of this, and he just didn’t want to think about it. Granted, Anxiety couldn’t ever really just ‘not think about’ something, but if he had to think about it, he would like to  _ pretend _ he wasn’t thinking about it, at least.

He leaned back into the couch and threw his head back to look at the ceiling.

“I don’t know,” he responded testily.

“You don’t know what, Virgil?”

Virgil remained quiet for a moment, trying to decide whether he should actually respond or try to sink into his room. The others were waiting for his answer, though, and if he didn’t provide it, they would surely get on his case about it later.

“I don’t know what to think about this situation!” he exclaimed finally, throwing his arms outward. “I”m not exactly the most unbiased side here… It’s like… I  _ do _ get what he said, and I know how it feels to not be listened to. You guys know that… But I just can’t  _ deal _ with him.”

“So, you are saying that your emotions are unduly influencing your judgment?”

Virgil shrugged moodily.

“I don’t know,” he answered with a huff. “Our fall-out was about Thomas’s well-being, but there was a  _ lot _ of other stuff said in that argument.”

“Well, then talking it out will probably help with that, too!” Patton chimed in, his dad-mode conflict-resolution skills finally kicking in. “If you two are fighting over things you said, then maybe it’ll help to say other things!”

Virgil shifted his head to look back at Patton.

“I don’t know, Dad. Our fight was years ago at this point, and some of the things we said…,” Virgil trailed off. “Look, I just don’t know if it’ll do any good. It might just be too late, you know…?”

“It’s not too late!” Patton disagreed. “It’s  _ never _ too late!”

Virgil resisted the sudden urge to sing the next line of the song that Patton probably didn’t even realize he had quoted. Now wasn’t exactly the time. Still… maybe Patton was right. It wasn’t like Virgil  _ liked _ feeling this conflicted, and if he was being honest, there  _ was _ a part of him that missed Janus, missed his  _ friend _ . Maybe it would take some time, but maybe it  _ would _ work out. 

Somewhat surprising himself with his now oddly-optimistic thoughts, Virgil came to a decision. If he had hope like this, maybe he missed Janus even more than he realized- enough to overrule his anxiety about the whole thing. 

“Alright. Fine. We should talk to Janus,” he agreed. 

“What?!” Roman exclaimed. “You too?!”

“Come on Roman… Why not give it a try?” Patton soothed. “You like when he compliments you, remember? So, you know he’s not all bad, right?”

Logan had great difficulty in not correcting Patton about how the compliments had been lies, but he knew that pointing that out would set the conversation back, and he didn’t want to waste any more time on this back-and-forth arguing. Roman was quiet for a while, tapping his foot and looking around the room as if it would give him the answer he wanted. 

“Oh, alright!” Roman gave in. “But I will  _ not _ tolerate any evil schemes!”

Patton smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to break this discussion and the one with Deceit into two parts, so sorry that this one’s a bit short lol.


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to talk with Deceit~
> 
> Also, not relevant to the fic, but I drew Janus wearing a shirt that says B*tch because I thought it was funny, and it has over 300 likes on Insta, which is crazy ‘Cuz nothing I post ever gets that much engagement. And like, my other drawing of Janus has like. 5 likes, for comparison. The people have spoken. 

It was all very well and good that they had decided to try to include Janus more (and have a discussion with him), but apparently, the Light Sides had no idea where Janus was- and not because they believed the Dark Side would likely be anywhere other than his bedroom, but because they didn’t know where Deceit’s bedroom  _ was _ .

“Seriously? You guys don’t know where Deceit’s bedroom is?” Virgil questioned, an eyebrow raised.

“Well, it’s not like we had any reason to go there!” Roman shot back defensively. 

Virgil sent a dead stare in his direction.

“You live in the same house- mindscape- whatever- and it’s in the same place it’s always been,” Virgil pointed out. “You’ve literally been there.”

Patton fiddled with the sleeves of his cardigan.

“We have, kiddo, but it’s been a pretty long time.”

Virgil mumbled something under his breath about how misplacing an entire room is ridiculous, but he left it at that.

“I take it you know where his room is, then, Virgil?” Logan asked.

“Well, yeah.”

“Lead the way, Linkin Dark.”

With a disproportionately deep sigh, Virgil started leading the way toward Janus’s room. It would have been faster to just sink and appear there, but Virgil knew that Deceit made it so no one could enter his room without permission. Somehow. Virgil had pestered him to tell him how to do it too, but the snake had never let him in on the secret. Well, at least that made it so the other sides were able to get to him when he ducked out. He sure as hell wouldn’t have opened the door if they had knocked. 

Deceit might not open the door either. Virgil knew that, expected it, actually. But he also knew that the Light Sides were stubborn, and now that they had decided to talk to Janus, they would probably pester him until he relented. Virgil could speak from experience on that one. 

But Deceit could be just as stubborn if he wanted to. Sure, he preferred to slink away when things started to annoy him, but there wasn’t really anywhere other than his bedroom for Janus to slink away to, unless he decided to spend the day with Remus. And Virgil very much doubted that Janus would do that because, Remus himself aside, his room was absolutely disturbing. If the others thought that  _ Anxiety’s _ room was bad, they’d probably die looking at Remus’s room. Janus mostly just found the room to be gross and worried about his clothes getting something strange on them, though. 

So, yeah. Janus was probably going to be trapped in his room, and it would end up being a battle of wills to decide who was the most stubborn. Which maybe wasn’t the best way to go about this (after all, Virgil hated feeling trapped and knew that Janus did too), but that was really all they could do at the moment.

The thing was that Janus almost  _ never _ left his room unless he was injecting himself into their conversations with Thomas. He didn’t particularly  _ need _ to otherwise. All of their rooms were really more than just a room. Each one was a version of Thomas’s house with slight alterations to fit their traits a bit better. The commons was there for the sake of social interaction, and Janus was most definitely not the social type. 

Regardless of whether this was the most sound plan or not- and Virgil’s mind, now that they were really about to knock on that door, was coming up with a hundred ways why this plan was horrible- they reached Janus’s door. It was a warm, brown wood with a doorknob shaped like a snake’s head, and the sight of it reminded Virgil of the countless times he’d stood in front of it like this over the years. 

It was Patton who stepped forward. Virgil felt trepidation settle over his shoulders.

XXX

Janus was legitimately surprised to hear the soft knocking at his door. He really hadn’t thought that any of the others would come to find him. Virgil was the only one who might have done so in the past, but he certainly wouldn’t now, and Virgil didn’t knock like that, anyway. 

“Hey, kiddo. Um, mind if we talk for a bit?”

Ah. Patton. 

Of course it was Patton. Morality always did have a thing with trying to comfort people. It was part of his ‘Dad’ persona, apparently, and it seemed like his brief lapse into the truth had warranted Patton’s fatherly concern. But that didn’t matter. Janus wasn’t in the mood to talk at the moment, and if Patton felt bad about being ignored, then so be it. 

And so he ignored the knocking. 

“I know that you’re upset with us right now, kiddo,” Patton continued regardless. “But ignoring the problem isn’t going to solve it.”

Janus rolled his eyes. He wondered if Patton forgot he wasn’t  _ really _ a dad sometimes. Or if he forgot that the other sides weren’t children, which was a bit ironic since Patton could be considered one of the more childish sides himself at times. Actually, the whole dad charade could be considered a lie if one thought about it. Well, lie or not, he didn’t want to deal with it, so he just continued to pet his snake. 

Even more surprisingly, the next voice to speak wasn’t Patton’s. It was Logan.

“Deceit,” he spoke through the door. “Patton is correct in saying that ignoring a problem solves nothing. We had a discussion and concluded that we should try to listen to your input. And we would like to talk to you about that, but you do appear to be upset over today’s events.”

Okay, why was  _ Logan _ here? He could understand why Patton would show up- he was just like that, and he probably felt guilty or something- but Logan had no reason to come talk to him. He was Logic, after all, and he didn’t engage in pointless things like talking to doors. But… Logan  _ also _ didn’t have a reason to lie. 

“We just want to talk, okay?” 

Patton again. Strange how Logic and Emotions were teaming up to pester him.

He sighed. 

“Oh, I would just absolutely  _ love _ talking to you,” Janus said finally, giving up on ignoring them because they were annoying and he just wanted them to leave him in peace. 

“... That  _ was _ a lie, right?” 

Ah. Roman was here too, apparently. With that being the case, there was a good chance that Virgil was part of their little entourage, remaining silent. How  _ wonderful _ . Seems like the gang’s all here to bother him, saying they want to talk to him when all they ever do is ignore everything he says. He knew they didn’t  _ really  _ want his input. Maybe Logan was lying after all. 

“Yeah, Princey, that was a lie.”

And yup, there was Virgil. 

“ _ Me? Lie? _ Why, I would  _ never!” _ Janus shot back.

“Well, you appeared to have spoken rather honestly earlier,” Logan pointed out.

Janus moved closer to the door, only so it would be easier to hear the others and, therefore, make them leave. 

“I’m  _ never _ honest.”

“It would certainly be a lot easier to figure out whether you’re lying if that were true,” Roman replied. “Well, it can’t really be true if you’re never honest, but… Ugh, never mind. At least if you were always lying, we could just assume that the opposite of what you’re saying is the truth.”

“ _ No _ , it would be  _ far more _ difficult,” Janus responded almost automatically. 

There was just the slightest pause on the other side of the door.

“... Janus, what color is the sky?” Virgil asked, probing.

“The sky is green.” 

“Ah. Yup,” Anxiety came to a conclusion. “He was being  _ too _ honest earlier. Everything he says for a while will probably be a lie.”

“Wait.  _ That _ was too much truth for him?!” Roman exclaimed. “He wasn’t even honest for the entire conversation!”

Janus sighed in annoyance.

“I just  _ love _ when people talk about me as if I’m not right here,” he said. “Almost as much as I  _ love _ talking through doors.”

“We wouldn’t have to talk through a door if you would just open it!”

“And we  _ would _ have to if you would just leave.” 

Janus was about to walk back into the room and start ignoring them again, but then Logan decided to cut into the conversation. 

“Deceit. If you do not wish to have this conversation right this moment, we can have it at another time if you would prefer,” he offered. 

“ _ Yes _ , this is a conversation I want to have at some point.”

“Janus.”

Oh, Virgil used his serious voice. How  _ fun _ . 

“Look, I get that you’re angry or upset or whatever it is you feel, but… you literally told us  _ earlier today _ that you wanted to be listened to,” Virgil told him. “This is us trying to listen.”

Janus clenched his hands into fists tightly before slowly releasing them with an equally slow exhale. 

And then, against his better judgement, he went to open the door.


	4. Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the next part. I wrote this instead of being productive and doing more than the absolute bare minimum of my homework because life sucks and this slimey boi is still apparently the only thing that currently gives me joy. 
> 
> Which sounds pretty emo and perhaps melodramatic, but whatever, I’m essentially talking to a text document at the moment.

Janus slowly pulled his door open, having actually been a lot less stubborn than Virgil thought he would have been. Since retreating to his room, the dishonest man had changed his clothes. Instead of his usual hat-and-cape-get-up, he had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie that, if it weren’t for the golden-toned color scheme, looked like it came from Virgil’s closet. And this, while perhaps a slight surprise to the others since they never really saw Janus wear anything else, was a concern for Virgil. Virgil knew that Janus only wore that kind of stuff to bed, or- if it wasn’t night yet- when he was upset. Well, it’s not like Janus  _ told _ him that or anything, but just about every time Virgil had reason to believe Janus was upset correlated with the only times he saw the man wearing this particular kind of outfit. 

But stranger than the outfit itself, however, was the fact that Janus had actually answered the door while wearing it, when they were all standing there. Sure, there were a few times he opened the door for Virgil back before their fight, but the Janus from back then would have never done so for the Light Sides. Maybe that meant Janus actually wanted to talk to them more than he was trying to convey, but maybe  _ that _ meant that Janus was more upset about this than they thought. 

“Well? I  _ didn’t _ open the door,” Janus spoke with an undercurrent of annoyance. “What don’t you want?”

“Really, we just want to have a little chat,” Patton reassured him. “Actually, we should probably also include Thomas in this. Roman, could you go get him and meet us in the Commons?”

“... Sure, Padre.”

And with that, Roman sank out of the mindscape to retrieve their host. Janus let out a huff.

“So, we  _ aren’t _ going to the common room, then?” he questioned. 

“Well, I just figured that it would be more comfortable to sit on the couches and maybe have some hot chocolate instead of standing in the hallway,” Patton explained. “Is that okay?”

Janus shrugged but stepped out of his room and went to close the door behind him. This seemed to appease Patton who, now that he knew the way, started to lead them back to the Commons. The four of them remained silent, with Patton’s silence being significantly less tense than the silence between Janus and Virgil, and Logan just being quiet as a matter of course. 

Virgil wasn’t sure if he should be glad for the silence or not. On the one hand, it gave his mind the opportunity to start coming up with worst-case scenarios, but on the other, it allowed him to delay having to actually say anything else to Janus for just a bit longer. 

XXX

He followed the Light Sides and Virgil down the hall and into the commons living room, feeling even more annoyed now that he was seeing the others face-to-face. This whole thing was stupid. They were just putting on some kind of act to lessen their guilt and soothe their bruised egos. Virgil said that this discussion was for listening to him, but he doubted it. And even if it was, one discussion wasn’t  _ really  _ going to change anything. They just needed to try the tiniest bit so that they wouldn’t feel so bad when they inevitably went back to doing the same thing as before. 

As they entered the commons, Patton went to the kitchen to boil water, and Janus sat on the couch, making sure he wasn’t sitting next to either Logan or Virgil. This resulted in him sitting about as far away from the two of them as he could, and maybe he did so with a bit more drama than necessary, but if he was anything, he was dramatic. 

What was taking Princey so long? If Thomas was busy and couldn’t join the discussion, they  _ could _ just drop it and leave him alone. Though, maybe Roman didn’t want to have this discussion, or at least, didn’t want to involve Thomas in it. He knew that the princely side was a bit fickle with his opinion on him. He usually didn’t like Janus at all, as evidenced by earlier, but he  _ did _ like when Janus gave him compliments, even if those compliments were only sweet-sounding lies. Though, the false compliment tactic had gotten much less effective after that whole courtroom scene. Which was inconvenient, but oh well. It was just another example of how his attempts to help Thomas blew up in his face. 

But, well, think of the Devil, and he shall appear, because Roman popped back in right then, bringing Thomas with him. 

“Uh, hey guys,” Thomas greeted them awkwardly. 

“Thomas. I trust that Roman filled you in on what’s going on?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Thomas confirmed. “Uh… Hi, Janus.” 

“Hello, Thomas,” Janus returned the greeting. “It’s absolutely  _ horrible _ to see you.”

Silently, he cursed the greeting because it was obviously a lie, and that told the others that he was likely glad to have Thomas there. Which  _ was _ the truth- of course he had a soft spot for their host- but he didn’t want to let the other sides in on that. Because he was still very much upset; it was just hard to stay too upset with Thomas in particular. 

And then Patton returned with a tray of mugs. 

“Hi there, Thomas!” Patton greeted. “Looks like everyone’s here!”

Janus almost pointed out that Remus was, in fact, not there, and he almost pointed out that having a conversation about not excluding someone was a bit ironic when you were excluding someone  _ else _ , but he held his tongue on that one. He did, after all, know that Remus would probably end up derailing the conversation and that the Dark Side was probably off making mischief in the imagination right now, anyway. The fact that the others had apparently decided to exclude Remus without even having to actually think about it, however, very much irked Janus. But no matter. This conversation wasn’t going to lead anywhere, anyway, so might as well not intrude on Remus’s playtime. 

“So,” Patton started speaking, also starting to hand out the mugs. “Janus, we… we had a chat about what you said earlier, and we’re sorry for excluding you all the time.” 

Patton handed him a mug. He could feel the warmth of it through his gloves, and he could smell the sweet liquid within. 

He raised an eyebrow. 

“I just… Well, I think we all know at this point that I can get a bit… strict with Thomas at times, and I don’t really like lying…,” said Patton.

And wow, that was like a slap to the face. But Patton didn’t even seem to realize that what he’d said was  _ very much _ an insult because he kept talking. 

“But I know now that lying isn’t all bad all the time, and you do more than just lie,” he continued. 

Patton fiddled with his cardigan, avoiding Janus’s eyes. 

“I feel bad about what happened when we were kids,” he admitted finally. “I thought you were bad, so you ended up alone, and I didn’t even realize that was wrong until recently. I’m… I’m really sorry about that, Janus…”

This time, Patton’s words did more than sting. They felt like a sword had been plunged into his heart. And worse than the words themselves was that they were completely truthful. Patton,  _ precious _ , good little Patton had taken  _ this _ long to feel bad about what happened when they were children. He clenched his fists.

“You-!” Janus hissed. “Do you know what it was like to  _ not _ be alone for all those years?! I only  _ didn’t _ eventually have people to talk to because you all  _ didn’t  _ reject Virgil and Remus, too!”

Patton looked heartbroken. 

“I’m sorry. I really am,” he replied shakily. “But I was scared back then… I think we all were… I thought that the Dark Sides were going to hurt Thomas, but after we started talking to Virgil… I realized that wasn’t true. You guys  _ are _ part of Thomas, too, and you aren’t all bad. Just like we aren’t all good…”

Janus wanted to yell at Patton, yell that the side should have said that a long time ago if he wanted it to matter, but his snake slithered out of his hood and rested its head on his shoulder. So, instead of yelling, he let out a huff and reached up to stroke the reptile’s scales.

“... Has your snake been in there this whole time?” Roman asked. 

“ _ No, _ Roman, I absolutely  _ haven’t _ had my snake in my hood,” Janus answered. 

The room fell into awkward silence. Surprisingly, Roman was actually the one who broke it again.

“I suppose… while we’re on that topic…,” the prince spoke, clearly uncomfortable. “I should apologize for my actions back then as well. If I hadn’t actually driven you off… Look, I must admit that earlier, I didn’t even agree with having this conversation, and I’m still wary about it now, but… giving Virgil a chance actually turned out to be for the best for everyone… And I guess… we haven’t been  _ entirely _ fair to you… So, I’m sorry as well…”

Deceit blinked at the prince. It was another honest confession/apology. Granted, it was clear that Roman wasn’t entirely on board with this, but considering the way Roman could get, it was rather surprising that he had apologized at all.

“I’ve actually been thinking that we should try to include you more, Janus,” Thomas told him. “I didn’t always know you existed, but I know that you’ve tried to help me, and I’m grateful for that. So thank you.”

Okay, first apologies, and now  _ thanks _ ? Something was clearly wrong here. Or else he was dreaming a strange, strange dream. Remus better not be messing with him and giving him weird dreams again.

“It would likely be beneficial to have your input,” Logan interjected. “I said this earlier, but you weren’t here, so I will repeat it. You offer an opposing viewpoint and help offset Patton. You keep the balance from tipping too far to one side, and help make sure Thomas takes care of himself.”

Janus was actually at a loss for words at this point. Sure, there was the fact that the room was absolutely  _ oozing _ with honesty,  _ sickening _ honesty, but he also just truly didn’t know what to say for once. As such, he finally lifted the mug to his lips and took a long sip of the now significantly-cooler hot chocolate. But a sip only lasted so long, and he still didn’t have anything sorted out by its end. This situation was… rather unexpected. He could tell that these were the others’ true thoughts because he would know if they were lies, and they  _ weren’t _ , but how could he  _ possibly _ believe any of it? How could their opinion of him have possibly changed so quickly?  _ Had _ it? Was he just interpreting things wrong, or was all this really a recent epiphany? How much of this was because of  _ them _ , and how much was on  _ him? _

But everyone was looking at him now, clearly waiting for him to say something, to react. So, Janus just decided to admit to it.

“I… know  _ exactly _ what to say about this…”

Okay, admit as well as he could. He was still on compulsive-lie mode, and the others would understand what he meant. 

“Alright. How ‘bout I say something, then?” Virgil spoke up.

Crap. Virgil. Virgil had been completely silent since they left Janus’s doorway, and he had assumed that Virgil decided to sit this conversation out as much as possible. He had assumed that Virgil didn’t want to talk to him and only did so at the door because the others had dragged him into this. But maybe that wasn’t the case either? Or maybe it was but it changed too? For lies’ sake, how was he supposed to tell  _ when _ something became the truth?

Virgil sighed deeply.

“Look… I’m not completely over what happened, and I don’t think you are, either,” Virgil continued, knowing that Janus would understand what exactly he was referring to. “But… We both said things we didn’t mean.”

“When do I  _ ever _ mean what I say?” Janus quietly questioned out of habit.

Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“You know what I mean,” he said. “We both said a lot of stupid and hurtful things, and it was dumb to let all this go on for so long.”

Janus tensed as he waited for Virgil’s next words, not wanting to let himself get too hopeful. Virgil rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, taking in a deep breath.

“Ugh, I’m sorry, okay?” Virgil managed to tell him. “I shouldn’t have called you a lying snake, and I shouldn’t have said I hated you. ‘Cuz I don’t, not really, I was just mad, you know…?” 

Janus’s chest felt tight.

“... But you  _ didn’t _ mean it… I know you didn’t…,” Janus mumbled.

“No, I  _ thought _ I did in the moment, but I didn’t  _ really _ mean it,” Virgil rejected. 

So that was it then? Virgil didn’t hate him? None of them  _ really _ hated him? Was this really all  _ his _ fault then? Was it all because of his lies and deception? Was it because he kept holding onto grudges? Was it just  _ him? _

Janus felt tears prickle at the corner of his eyes, and he quickly tried to rub them away.  _ No _ , he was  _ not _ going to start crying in front of the others. Hadn’t he made enough of a fool of himself already? 

“Hey, bud, are you okay?” Thomas asked, obviously having noticed that Janus was crying. 

As in, he was  _ currently  _ crying because his attempts to rub the tears away were absolutely failing. Feeling his face growing red in embarrassment, Janus buried his face in his hands and curled inward a bit, which was embarrassing in itself, but at least they couldn’t see his face anymore. At that point, he was hoping that the others would just  _ leave _ so he could be alone to deal with himself and eventually slink off to his room.

And then he felt arms, hesitant arms, wrap around him slowly, and he knew from the familiar way it felt that it was Virgil. Virgil… Virgil really  _ didn’t _ hate him, then? Virgil was actually hugging him, and apparently the others didn’t hate him as much as he thought they did, didn’t outright  _ hate _ him at all, and this was all too much.

Janus couldn’t stop himself from gripping onto Virgil, burying his face in the other man’s hoodie as he lost his hold over his tears. He wasn’t a loud crier- no, this was one of the only areas in which he preferred to ditch the theatrics- but his body shook, and the tears soaked into Virgil’s shoulder. And sure, maybe Virgil hadn’t forgiven him completely, but the possibility was there again now, and he had forgiven him  _ enough _ to do this. 

No one said anything while Janus cried himself out, remaining silent and apparently trying not to stare at him too much. But of course, Janus’s tears eventually ceased, and it didn’t take as long as it could have. And as the crying finally ended, Janus removed himself from Virgil’s embrace and rubbed the remaining wetness from his cheeks. 

He breathed deeply and slowly for a few beats before he finally managed to string together the words he finally figured out to say.

“I…,” he started. “It seems it  _ isn’t  _ my turn, then.”

No one tried to interrupt him, so he continued, smoothing out his clothes in an effort to make himself look more presentable, which was a rather pointless lie at this point. 

“I’m  _ not _ sorry for acting so villainous this whole time, or for giving Thomas bad advice. And Virgil…,” he took another deep breath. “I’m  _ not _ sorry for calling you a traitor and trying to control what you did…”

He said the part for Virgil just a bit quieter as shame slowly rose within him. He had known that what he said and did back then was wrong… He’d just assumed that Virgil would eventually forgive him for it. And now that he partially had that, he finally realized how stupid it was to assume that he would get it, that things would just return to normal without him even actually  _ attempting  _ to fix anything.

What now? It seemed like everyone had said their piece for the time-being, and even though there would probably be more discussions down the line, it seemed like this one was done for now. 

“So…,” Roman spoke eventually. “Are we really going to end this discussion without talking about the snake in Janus’s hood?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end of this part of the story. I have more ideas for additional parts, though. I have somehow started another series…. without finishing my other stuff first… again… whoops. 
> 
> Anyway, if you’re reading this on FFN (is anyone?), I’ll just keep posting everything under the same story. If you’re reading this on AO3, the story will be separated into parts by chunks. Ya’ll know how that works on here, so I probably don’t have to explain that…
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading :3 Hope to see you in the next part~

**Author's Note:**

> And even though I had intended for this to be a one-shot, I’m apparently going to write another chapter after this one too. Maybe a few more chapters.  
> I cannot help it; I just really like this slimey boi. 
> 
> And btw, I’m not gonna include any ‘Orange Side’ OC or Remy in this or anything. I just don’t really want to. So, yeah, the gang’s all here. I’m also not sure how much Remus is going to be in this ‘Cuz he’s pretty new, so…


End file.
